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In this article, I examine the development of aggressive behavior from middle childhood to adolescence as a result of the interaction between the person and the environment and discuss implications for intervention measures. Three main questions are addressed and illustrated by examples from recent research: What are intrapersonal risk factors for the development and persistence of aggressive behavior from middle childhood to adolescence? What factors in the social environment contribute to the development of aggressive behavior? How do individual dispositions and environmental risk factors interact to explain developmental trajectories of aggressive behavior?
Early maternal care may counteract familial liability for psychopathology in the reward circuitry
(2018)
Reward processing is altered in various psychopathologies and has been shown to be susceptible to genetic and environmental influences. Here, we examined whether maternal care may buffer familial risk for psychiatric disorders in terms of reward processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a monetary incentive delay task was acquired in participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth (N = 172, 25 years). Early maternal stimulation was assessed during a standardized nursing/playing setting at the age of 3 months. Parental psychiatric disorders (familial risk) during childhood and the participants’ previous psychopathology were assessed by diagnostic interview. With high familial risk, higher maternal stimulation was related to increasing activation in the caudate head, the supplementary motor area, the cingulum and the middle frontal gyrus during reward anticipation, with the opposite pattern found in individuals with no familial risk. In contrast, higher maternal stimulation was associated with decreasing caudate head activity during reward delivery and reduced levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the high-risk group. Decreased caudate head activity during reward anticipation and increased activity during delivery were linked to ADHD. These findings provide evidence of a long-term association of early maternal stimulation on both adult neurobiological systems of reward underlying externalizing behavior and ADHD during development.
Is bad intent negligible?
(2018)
The hostile attribution bias (HAB) is a well-established risk factor for aggression. It is considered part of the suspicious mindset that may cause highly victim-justice sensitive individuals to behave uncooperatively. Thus, links of victim justice sensitivity (JS) with negative behavior, such as aggression, may be better explained by HAB. The present study tested this hypothesis in N=279 German adolescents who rated their JS, HAB, and physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression. Victim JS predicted physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression when HAB was controlled. HAB only predicted physical and proactive aggression. There were no moderator effects. Injustice seems an important reason for aggression irrespective of whether or not it is intentionally caused, particularly among those high in victim JS. Thus, victim JS should be considered as a potential important risk factor for aggression and receive more attention by research on aggression and preventive efforts.
Lean back and relax
(2018)
Frustration is a powerful instigator of anger-based aggression. We hypothesized that the impact of a frustration on anger and aggressive behavior is reduced in a state of feeling relaxed, which is considered incompatible with the experience of anger. Seventy-nine participants received frustrating feedback either when sitting upright or sitting in a reclined position and were then given a chance to act aggressively toward the frustrator. Feelings of anger and relaxation were assessed before and after the frustration. Participants in the reclined position felt more relaxed than those sitting upright, which indirectly predicted less aggressive behavior via lower anger. The results are consistent with theories of incompatible states and embodiment and have implications for using body-related cues to mitigate anger-based aggression.
Cultural generality versus specificity of media violence effects on aggression was examined in seven countries (Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Japan, Romania, the United States). Participants reported aggressive behaviors, media use habits, and several other known risk and protective factors for aggression. Across nations, exposure to violent screen media was positively associated with aggression. This effect was partially mediated by aggressive cognitions and empathy. The media violence effect on aggression remained significant even after statistically controlling a number of relevant risk and protective factors (e.g., abusive parenting, peer delinquency), and was similar in magnitude to effects of other risk factors. In support of the cumulative risk model, joint effects of different risk factors on aggressive behavior in each culture were larger than effects of any individual risk factor.
BACKGROUND: Aggressive behavior at an early age is linked to a broad range of psychosocial problems in later life. That is why risk factors of the occurrence and the development of aggression have been examined for a long time in psychological science. The present doctoral dissertation aims to expand this research by investigating risk factors in three intrapersonal domains using the prominent social-information processing approach by Crick and Dodge (1994) as a framework model. Anger regulation was examined as an affective, theory of mind as a cognitive, and physical attractiveness as an appearance-related developmental factor of aggression in middle childhood. An additional goal of this work was to develop and validate a behavioral observation assessment of anger regulation as past research lacked in ecologically valid measures of anger regulation that are applicable for longitudinal studies.
METHODS: Three empirical studies address the aforementioned intrapersonal risk factors. In each study, data from the PIER-project were used, a three-wave-longitudinal study covering three years with a total sample size of 1,657 children in the age between 6 and 11 years (at the first measurement point). The central constructs were assessed via teacher-reports (aggression), behavioral observation (anger regulation), computer tests (theory of mind), and independent ratings (physical attractiveness). The predictive value of each proposed risk factor for the development of aggressive behavior was examined via structural equation modeling.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The newly developed behavioral observation measure was found to be a reliable and valid tool to assess anger regulation in middle childhood, but limited in capturing a full range of relevant regulation strategies. That might be the reason, why maladaptive anger regulation was not found to function as a risk factor of subsequent aggressive behavior. However, children’s deficits in theory of mind and a low level in physical attractiveness significantly predicted later aggression. Problematic peer relationships were identified as underlying the link between low attractiveness and aggression. Thus, fostering children’s skills in theory of mind and their ability to call existing beliefs about the nature of more versus less attractive individuals into question may be important starting points for the prevention of aggressive behavior in middle childhood.
Several personality dispositions with common features capturing sensitivities to negative social cues have recently been introduced into psychological research. To date, however, little is known about their interrelations, their conjoint effects on behavior, or their interplay with other risk factors. We asked N = 349 adults from Germany to rate their justice, rejection, moral disgust, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attribution bias, trait anger, and forms and functions of aggression. The sensitivity measures were mostly positively correlated; particularly those with an egoistic focus, such as victim justice, rejection, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attributions and trait anger as well as those with an altruistic focus, such as observer justice, perpetrator justice, and moral disgust sensitivity. The sensitivity measures had independent and differential effects on forms and functions of aggression when considered simultaneously and when controlling for hostile attributions and anger. They could not be integrated into a single factor of interpersonal sensitivity or reduced to other well-known risk factors for aggression. The sensitivity measures, therefore, require consideration in predicting and preventing aggression.
Several personality dispositions with common features capturing sensitivities to negative social cues have recently been introduced into psychological research. To date, however, little is known about their interrelations, their conjoint effects on behavior, or their interplay with other risk factors. We asked N = 349 adults from Germany to rate their justice, rejection, moral disgust, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attribution bias, trait anger, and forms and functions of aggression. The sensitivity measures were mostly positively correlated; particularly those with an egoistic focus, such as victim justice, rejection, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attributions and trait anger as well as those with an altruistic focus, such as observer justice, perpetrator justice, and moral disgust sensitivity. The sensitivity measures had independent and differential effects on forms and functions of aggression when considered simultaneously and when controlling for hostile attributions and anger. They could not be integrated into a single factor of interpersonal sensitivity or reduced to other well-known risk factors for aggression. The sensitivity measures, therefore, require consideration in predicting and preventing aggression.
Converging evidence emphasizes the role of an interaction between monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype, environmental adversity, and sex in the pathophysiology of aggression. The present study aimed to clarify the impact of this interaction on neural activity in aggression-related brain systems. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 125 healthy adults from a high-risk community sample followed since birth. DNA was genotyped for the MAOA-VNTR (variable number of tandem repeats). Exposure to childhood life stress (CLS) between the ages of 4 and 11 years was assessed using a standardized parent interview, aggression by the Youth/Young Adult Self-Report between the ages of 15 and 25 years, and the VIRA-R (Vragenlijst Instrumentele En Reactieve Agressie) at the age of 15 years. Significant interactions were obtained between MAOA genotype, CLS, and sex relating to amygdala, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) response, respectively. Activity in the amygdala and hippocampus during emotional face-matching increased with the level of CLS in male MAOA-L, while decreasing in male MAOA-H, with the reverse pattern present in females. Findings in the opposite direction in the ACC during a flanker NoGo task suggested that increased emotional activity coincided with decreased inhibitory control. Moreover, increasing amygdala activity was associated with higher Y(A)SR aggression in male MAOA-L and female MAOA-H carriers. Likewise, a significant association between amygdala activity and reactive aggression was detected in female MAOA-H carriers. The results point to a moderating role of sex in the MAOAx CLS interaction for intermediate phenotypes of emotional and inhibitory processing, suggesting a possible mechanism in conferring susceptibility to violence-related disorders.
Background: The engagement in aggressive behavior in middle childhood is linked to the development of severe problems in later life. Thus, identifying factors and processes that con-tribute to the continuity and increase of aggression in middle childhood is essential in order to facilitate the development of intervention programs. The present PhD thesis aimed at expand-ing the understanding of the development of aggression in middle childhood by examining risk factors in the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains as well as the interplay between these factors: Maladaptive anger regulation was examined as an intrapersonal risk factor; processes that occur in the peer context (social rejection and peer socialization) were included as interpersonal risk factors. In addition, in order to facilitate the in situ assessment of anger regulation strategies, an observational measure of anger regulation was developed and validated.
Method: The research aims were addressed within the scope of four articles. Data from two measurement time points about ten months apart were available for the analyses. Participants were elementary school children aged from 6 to 10 years at T1 and 7 to 11 years at T2. The first article was based on cross-sectional analyses including only the first time point; in the remaining three articles longitudinal associations across the two time points were analyzed. The first two articles were concerned with the development and cross-sectional as well as longitudinal validation of observational measure of anger regulation in middle childhood in a sample of 599 children. Using the same sample, the third article investigated the longitudinal link between maladaptive anger regulation and aggression considering social rejection as a mediating variable. The frequency as well as different functions of aggression (reactive and proactive) were included as outcomes measures. The fourth article examined the influence of class-level aggression on the development of different forms of aggression (relational and physical) over time under consideration of differences in initial individual aggression in a sample of 1,284 children. In addition, it was analyzed if the path from aggression to social rejection varies as a function of class-level aggression.
Results: The first two articles revealed that the observational measure of anger regulation developed for the purpose of this research was cross-sectionally related to anger reactivity, aggression and social rejection as well as longitudinally related to self-reported anger regula-tion. In the third article it was found that T1 maladaptive anger regulation showed no direct link to T2 aggression, but an indirect link through T1 social rejection. This indirect link was found for the frequency of aggression as well as for reactive and proactive aggression. The fourth article revealed that with regard to relational aggression, a high level of classroom ag-gression predicted an increase of individual aggression only among children with initially low levels of aggression. For physical aggression, it was found that the overall level of aggression in the class affected all children equally. In addition, physical aggression increased the likelihood of social rejection irrespective of the class-level of aggression whereas relational aggression caused social rejection only in classes with a generally low level of relational aggression. The analyses of gender-specific effects showed that children were mainly influenced by their same-gender peers and that the effect on the opposite gender was higher if children engaged in gender-atypical forms of aggressive behavior.
Conclusion: The results provided evidence for the construct and criterion validity of the observational measure of maladaptive anger regulation that was developed within the scope of this research. Furthermore, the findings indicated that maladaptive anger regulation constitutes an important risk factor of aggression through the influence of social rejection. Finally, the results demonstrated that the level of aggression among classmates is relevant for the development of individual aggression over time and that the children´s evaluation of relationally aggressive behavior varies as a function of the normativity of relational aggression in the class. The study findings have implications for the measurement of anger regulation in middle childhood as well as for the prevention of aggression and social rejection.